Both natural polymers and synthetic polymers have been used as base polymers in bottle labeling adhesive applications. Natural polymer-based adhesives, such as starch- and casein-based adhesives, can be formulated to offer such advantages as good machinability, high wet strength, and ice water resistance. Synthetic emulsion polymer-based adhesives provide advantages such as, for example, a fast set time. Hot melt adhesives based on styrenic block copolymers are able to produce especially soft, often pressure sensitive adhesives, which are particularly effective in bonding plastic labeling films to plastic bottles. The increased use of plastic labels and bottles has lead to the growth of hot melt adhesive technology. One disadvantage of hot melt adhesives is that they are hydrophobic and thus difficult to remove from the bottle after use in typical recycling operations.
A need continues to exist in the art for a hot melt adhesive that is useful in bottle labeling applications and which is removable with the label from off a glass or plastic bottle. The current invention addresses this need.